Chemical base-detonator.



P. L. E. DEL FuNGo-GIERA.

CHEMICAL BASE DETONATOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 8. i918.

Patented Mar. 25, 1919.

PHILIPPO E. DEL FUN GO-GIERA, 0F PELHAM, NEW YORK.

CHEMICAL BASE-BETONATOB Specification of Letters Patent.

Pateteaiuar. 25, 191e.

Applieation mea May s, 191s. serial No. 233,305.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, PHiLrPPo L. E. 'DEL' FUNGo-GIERA, a citizen of Switzerland, and a resident of Pelham Woods, Pelham, in the county of Westchester and4 State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Chemical Base-Detonator, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to high explosives and has particular reference to ordnance shells charged with T. N. T. or the like requiring unusual means or facilities for detonation.

Among the objects of the invention is to provide improvements in shells having base detonators and accommodating T. N. T. or the like adapted to be red as a result of chemical action following impact.

Another object of the invention is to provide a high explosive shell adapted to be fired chemically, the same being provided with means to safeguard the handling of the shell and preventing premature explosion of the shell even after it is red.

VWithV the foregoing and other objects in view the invention consists in the arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed, and while the invention isnot restricted to theexact details of construction disclosed or suggested herein, still for the purpose of illustrating a prac tical embodiment thereof reference ishad to"AV the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same parts in the several views, and in which Figure l is a vertical central sectional view of a shell equipped with my improvements, the parts being in normal idle position.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a detail view of the firing pin.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, I show a shell 10 of the standard United States Government design having a base plug 11 having standard threaded engagement with the otherwise open end of the shell and being provided with an externally threaded hub or lug 12 on its inner surface. The'interior of the shell is filled mainly with a block of cast T. N. T. 13. The shell is fitted with any suitable soft metal band 10 around its base end.

14 indicates a detonator casing of tubular form Vand preferably cylindrical, having threaded engagement upon the lug 12 and so carried upon the inner surface of the base 11 and otherwise surrounded by the T. N. T.

The forward end of the casing 14 is .provided 'with a closure disk 15 fitted in any suitable manner therein as byscrew threads. 16 is va ring pin having an enlarged head 17 and screw threaded at 18 at its rear end into the base 11 or lug 12 and so held in fixed position thereby.- The point or head of the ring pin 17 extends forward but stops short of the forward end of the Casin 14:, the space between the point and the dis 15 being filled' with a cartridge formed of hard paraffin or the like 19 carrying a charge of a suitable chemical suchas 'sulfuric acid 20. A disk 21 of tinfoil or other thin `metal is interposed between the cartridge 19..and the point of the firing pin, serving to hold 'the cartridge in fixed position upv to the moment of impact of the shell, and just below or at the'rear of this disk 21 is a guard of copper or brass shown as comprising a central tubular stem 23 and al disk 24 at its forward end which 'normally injidlegA position or for transportation purposes 1s positioned against `the disk 21 and-so supports the cartridge of acid free from the point of the tiring pin. The rear end of the tubular portion 23 ofthe guard is normally supported upon a centrifugal support comprising two arc-shaped members 25 closely surrounding the base end of the pin and held normally close together around the pin by means of a light coil spring 26.

27 indicates a cylindrical block of highly compressed detonator compound having a central bore through which the firing pin and stem 23 of the guard extend. Any suitable detonating compound adapted to be acted upon by the sulfuric acid and so create a sudden and enormous pressure within the T. N. T. may be employed, but I suggest for this purpose a compound consisting of military gun cotton, carbon, chlorate of potash, and bismuth. I provide preferably also a series of longitudinal parallel bores 27 to facilitate the distribution of the acid throughout the block.

' The action of my improved detonator for base detonator shells may be briefly described as follows: With the parts constructed and arranged as indicated in Fig. 1 the rotation of the shell incident to the firing fromgthe gun throws immediately the centrifugal 

